Cathy McGowan has started 2017 with a sobering message for the Coalition: regional and rural Australia is falling into deeper hardship because of government neglect.
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In an opinion piece for The Border Mail, the Indi MP criticised the federal government for not including a statement on rural areas in its mid-year budget update last month.
“Rural folks’ legendary resilience is not limitless, it needs proper support and investment,” she said.
“Deep government neglect of rural and regional Australia is threatening the sustainability of this identity.
“What visitors see more and more on their trips away from the city is the hardship due to the impact of globalisation, funding cuts and the digital revolution.”
The mid-year budget update addressed the economic outlook for the rest of the year.
It included some information on regional issues, such as rural exports being expected to grow by 1.5 per cent in 2016-17, but not a dedicated report.
This was not the first time Ms McGowan has called on the government to make rural areas like Indi a priority.
Her first bill tabled in Parliament after the 2013 election was a request for a “regional ministerial statement” to be included in each year’s budget by law, which used to occur up until 2014.
“The call to the Prime Minister is: allow this bill to be debated and adopted – it could be done in time for the next budget,” Ms McGowan said in her opinion piece.
The government announced a regional initiative this week in the Building Better Regions Fund, replacing the old National Stronger Regions Fund.
Wangaratta Council has already committed to putting in an application for its $4 million outdoor pool.
Minister for Regional Development Fiona Nash said she wanted invest in projects that would strengthen communities and create jobs.
“BBRF is designed to invest in projects that will create the kinds of regional communities that our children and grandchildren want to either stay in or come back to,” she said.
- Neglect cutting the heart out of Australia: P26